SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

SitcomsOnline Digest: Casting Changes for Night Court; Bunk'd Coming to an End

 Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's a slow news week, but there are lots of things going on with programming lineups and marathons this weekend! Also, we're hearing about some Night Court casting changes and the end of a Disney Channel series. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

• Kapil Talwalkar is not returning to Night Court for season 2, which fits in with the cast instability that the original series had in earlier seasons. (Deadline)
• The Disney Channel series Bunk'd is coming to an end. (Deadline)
• Unless you're willing to pay $2.99 a month (a fee that we're sure will rise as time goes on), Prime Video will soon start including commercials. (CNET)
• The network has still not commented on the change (other than to just change the lineup and modify the logo), but the new Dabl lineup has started. (Cord Cutters News)
• We are remembering some of the sitcom (and beyond) stars that we lost in 2023. (SitcomsOnline)

WEEKLY PLANNER (DECEMBER 30 - JANUARY 6)

• Dabl has rebranded, and the lineup is now nothing but old UPN series, The Parkers, Half & Half, Moesha, Girlfriends, One on One, Sister, Sister, and The Game.
• Another new digital network, The365, debuts on Monday, and will essentially give you another old UPN series as well as the WB sitcoms of the same era (and a few other things), including Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Eve, The Parent 'Hood, Roc, All of Us, In the House, For Your Love, and Are We There Yet?
• Outlaw, yet another new digital network set to launch on Monday, features series including F Troop, Kung Fu, and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
• Catchy Comedy is doing short-lived sitcoms this weekend, with a binge of Bridget Loves Bernie today, followed by a binge of Fish tomorrow.
• It wouldn't be a new year without a Twilight Zone marathon. Syfy has you covered today through Monday, while Heroes & Icons will take care of Monday.
• NBC has a new season of Night Court, as well as the series premiere of Extended Family, on Tuesday.

TV One Gets Family Matters and Schedules Holiday Stunts; Disney Channel Sitcom Gets Season 3

TV One Fall 2011 Schedule; Hot in Cleveland Starts Production On Season 3, Schedule Notes for TV Land Comedies

TV One March 2011 Has Marathon of The Jeffersons; TV Land Adds CSI To Weekends In March

TV One December 2010 Highlights; TV Land Orders Two More Sitcom Pilots

TV One Primetime Schedule Changes; ABC Orders Winter Wipeout for January/February; Chilean Miners 20/20 Special Tonight

TV One November 2010 Schedule; Outlaw Is the Third New Series Canceled

TV One July 2010, 2nd Season of Life After Featuring Stories on Fresh Prince, All of Us Stars; Minor Hallmark Channel Schedule Change

This July 2010 on TV One there won't be any regular schedule changes, so enjoy the current schedule including primetime of back-to-back Martin at 8pm, The Tracy Morgan Show at 9, All of Us at 9:30, and back-to-back A Different World at 10 (with encores from 11pm-2am of these three hours).
On Monday, July 5, 2010 beginning at 1pm, TV One presents the "Martin: Independance Day Marathon" featuring characters Martin, Gina, Tommy, Cole, and Pam in all of their comic glory. Watch all night through 5am!
On Saturday, July 17 beginning at 5:30pm, it's all about the Queen, as TV One presents the "Living Single: Queen For a Day Marathon" featuring episodes of the popular sitcom focusing on Queen Latifah's character Khadijah, all leading into the TV One premiere of the blockbuster comedy film Bringing Down the House starring Queen Latifah and Steve Martin. Then there is more Living Single fun from 10pm-6am! Get on your high chair and pretend you're the Queen!
On Saturday, July 24 beginning at 6am thru 12 midnight, feel the need for a little holiday cheer, and don't want to wait six months for it? Let TV One and your favorite stars celebrate the holiday season as TV One presents "Jolly July," a 24-hour 'Christmas in July' marathon of Christmas programming featuring a Christmas movie thriller and holiday episodes of favorite TV One comedies Amen, The Jeffersons, All of Us, Good Times, The PJ's, Sanford & Son, Eve, Living Single, All of Us, A Different World, The Tracy Morgan Show, and of course Martin. So ignore the heat, cuddle up with a loved one, and start your Christmas celebration a little early this year with TV One. And select encores will air from 2am-6am featuring The Tracy Morgan Show, Martin and Living Single.

And finally, we normally don't cover TV One's original series, but this one has backstories on some sitcom stars. On Sunday, July 18, beginning at 2:30pm through 7pm, as viewers anticipate the premiere of the new season of the TV One original bio-series Life After on Monday, July 19, TV One takes a look back with the airing of a Life After: 1st Season Marathon, featuring the stories such as Jamiee Foxxworth (Family Matters) and more. When she was mysteriously fired from Family Matters in the middle of the series, the stability and money that came from her job melted away. From acts of desperation to life changing events, find out from Jaimee how she has turned her life around. Catch this episode again at 6:00pm on the night.
On Monday, July 19 at 9pm & 9:30pm, "life after" doesn't mean "life over" as TV One proudly presents the second season premiere of original bio-series Life After. In the careers of all celebrities, there are turning points that change their lives forever afterwards, be they public or private, triumphant or tragic. Life After is the series of half-hour shows that investigates these moments from a celebrity's point of view, as they tell the stories of the transformative events in their lives and share their joy and happiness, pain and loss, while also sharing the ways in which they evolved from these experiences to a more fulfilling "life after." In the season premiere at 9pm, the story of Janet Hubert is featured including the story of why she left the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the middle of its run. Encores at 12am. Future new episodes will premiere on Mondays at 9pm. On Monday, July 26 at 9pm, TV One premieres another episode of original bio-series Life After and in this episode, the story of actress Elise Neal (All of Us, The Hughleys) is featured.

The Hallmark Channel has made a slight schedule change that starts next Monday (June 28). They will remove an hour of paid programming weekdays in the 8am hour. We get an extra hour of The Golden Girls now, so it will air in mornings from 8am-11am! But don't get too used to that. Because starting Monday, July 12, an extra hour of I Love Lucy will be added in the 10am hour, so the mornings will have The Golden Girls from 8am-10am and I Love Lucy from 10am-1pm starting July 12. With the reduction of one hour of paid programming from the schedule, Hallmark must be planning for fall when Martha Stewart programming takes over weekdays from 10am-6pm. Will more paid programming be removed by fall? We will have to wait and see. As of now paid programming airs weekdays 4am-8am after this change on June 28.
In other Hallmark Channel scheduling news, there will be a marathon of The Golden Girls on Monday, July 5, as we observe Independence Day. The marathon runs from 8am-4am...that's all day of nothing but Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia! Thank you for being a friend, indeed!

TV One May 2010 Highlights Include Tracy Morgan Show Sitcom; Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 26, 2010)

This May on TV One we have some more good sitcom marathons and stunts, including a marathon of a short-lived sitcom! The marathon fun is basically every weekend in May! On Saturday, May 8 beginning at 2pm and running all night, TV One begins celebrating Mother's Day Weekend with a "Mother of all Marathons" (MOM) sitcom event. An all-day sitcom marathon featuring episodes of TV One sitcom favorites Living Single, That's My Mama, The Hughleys, The Jeffersons, Half & Half, and A Different World all focusing on Mother's Day or mom related storylines. On Sunday, May 9 beginning at 12pm Noon, TV One continues the Mother's Day Weekend celebration as they present the All of Us: "Mama Neesee Marathon" featuring a dozen episodes of the TV One sitcom favorite focusing on Neesee (LisaRaye McCoy) and her mother of the year attitude in dealing with her son Bobby.
On Saturday, May 15 beginning at 2pm and running all night, with the NBA Playoffs in full swing, TV One salutes the game of B-Ball (that's basketball, for those who don't know) with a "We Got Game" marathon featuring TV One sitcom episodes focusing on hoops and featuring guest star appearances from current and former NBA and WNBA superstars including Derek Fisher, Grant Hill, Cedric Ceballos, Cheryl Miller, Alonzo Mourning, and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. Sitcoms in this TV One sports marathon include All of Us, A Different World, Living Single, Martin, Half & Half, Between Brothers, Amen, and Eve.
On Sunday, May 16 beginning at 12pm through 7pm (select encores 3-6am), TV One celebrates the birthday of Grammy Award-Winning superstar Janet Jackson with an all-day Good Times: "Penny For Your Thoughts" marathon featuring episodes of the classic sitcom favorite that focus on Janet's character Penny entering the lives of the Evans family and their neighbor Willona.
On Sunday, May 23, TV One again goes South... South Central that is, as they present a marathon and a movie premiere. First beginning at 3pm through 7pm (select encores 12am-2am), TV One airs a marathon of the comedy/drama series South Central starring Tina Lifford and Larenz Tate. Then at 8pm, TV One premieres the feature film South Central. In the film, A man, coming out of prison after 10 years wants to live a normal life and stop with criminal behavior, but finds his son has begun to follow his criminal path. The film is scheduled to have an immediate encore airing at 10pm.
On Saturday, May 29 beginning at 5pm through all night, it's a TV One "Couples Therapy Marathon" as TV One presents a sitcom marathon focusing on favorite TV One sitcom couples that gives viewers a chance to vote online at TVOneOnline.com on their favorite couple. Sitcom couples featured in the marathon include Overton & Synclaire (Living Single), Dwayne & Whitley (A Different World), J.T. & Shelley (Eve), and Martin & Gina (Martin). The viewers choice favorite sitcom couple will have two episodes showcased in the 9pm hour of the marathon creating a fun interactive evening for all. Also of note, on Sunday, May 30 beginning at 12pm Noon through 10pm (select encores 10pm-2am), join the Sutton family for an all-day marathon of season three episodes of the popular African American drama series Lincoln Heights.
And finally, the biggest news...on Memorial Day (Monday, May 31) beginning at 12pm Noon through 12am, actor/comedian Tracy Morgan comes to TV One for a sitcom marathon! No not 30 Rock, before that show he had a short-lived sitcom titled The Tracy Morgan Show and it makes its bow in a 12-hour Memorial Day marathon including two "lost" episodes premiering at 8pm & 8:30pm that have never before aired on television. The two unseen episodes will have encore airings at 11pm & 11:30pm. Morgan stars in this sharp-edged family multi-camera comedy as father, husband and small business owner Tracy Mitchell, who with his beautiful, no-nonsense wife Alicia (Tamala Jones, Castle), share their modest apartment with their two kids, 13 year-old Derrick (Marc John Jefferies) and 7 year-old Jimmy (Bobb'e J. Thompson).
Stay tuned, maybe The Tracy Morgan Show will join the regular schedule in the summer? Stay with us...


It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars (but we won't cover movie stars like Tom Hanks or John Travolta, since they won't be talking about their past sitcoms likely), so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of April 26-30, 2010, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, April 26, 2010

• Alyssa Milano (Romantically Challenged/Who's the Boss?) - Alyssa stops by The Wendy Williams Show to talk about her new sitcom. Check local listings for time and channel, but it also airs nationally on BET at midnight. But wait that's not all! She will be on Extra (check local listings for time and channel) and also she will be in the audience on Dancing with the Stars at 8pm on ABC!
• Megan Mullally (Will & Grace/In the Motherhood) - Megan stops by ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:05am.
• Joel McHale (Community)- Joel will stop by NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm.
• Brian Posehn (Just Shoot Me!/Sarah Silverman Program) - Brian heads to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35am.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

• Carol Burnett (Carol Burnett Show/Mama's Family) - Carol stops to chat on The Bonnie Hunt Show. Check your local listings for time and channel.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

• Julie Bowen (Modern Family) - The lovely Julie Bowen stops by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC at 12:05am.
• Rico Rodriguez (Modern Family) - Rico stops by The Rachel Ray Show. Check your local listings!
• Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes) - Todd stops to talk on Oprah about his childhood. Check your listings for time and channel!
• Anthony Anderson (All About the Andersons/Hang Time) - Though more known for film/TV dramas now, Anthony stops to chat on The Bonnie Hunt Show. Check your local listings.
• Adhir Kalyan (Rules of Engagement) - Adhir stops by The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS at 12:35am to promote the CBS sitcom.
• Holly Robinson-Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) - Holly stops by The Joy Behar Show on HLN at 9pm.
• Lisa Kudrow (Friends) - Lisa will be on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS at 12:35am.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

• Holly Robinson-Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) - Holly will be on The Wendy Williams Show so check your local listings or watch on BET at midnight.
• Kelsey Grammar (Cheers/Frasier/Back to You/Hank) - Kelsey stops to cook and chat on The Martha Stewart Show. Check your local listings.
• Sarah Silverman (Sarah Silverman Program) - Sarah heads to The Rachel Ray Show. Check your listings for time and station.
• Wanda Sykes (Old Christine) - This is a repeat, but catch Wanda on TBS's Lopez Tonight at 11pm.
• Peter Facinelli (Nurse Jackie) - This is also a repeat, but catch him again on TBS's Lopez Tonight at 11pm.

Friday, April 30, 2010

• Alyssa Milano (Romantically Challenged/Who's the Boss?) - Alyssa will be on TV Guide Channel's Hollywood 411 airing at 7pm.

Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us to let us know what you think of this Friday feature! We do listen!

TV One March 2010 Highlights; Yes More Hallmark Channel Changes

TV One is still right smack in the middle of its "Way Back When" Black History Month programming in February 2010, with sitcom week all next week in primetime (What's Happening!! is on Monday!), but we here at SitcomsOnline always like to look forward, so we will take a look at TV One March 2010 today.
As of now, there are no schedule changes to the regular line-up. We are told, though that they will be airing The Flip Wilson Show, Richard Pryor Show, and What's Happening!! as regulars sometime this year, so stay with us for that! All three of those shows have premiered this month as part of their Black History month special. Richard Pryor Show only has 5 episodes, so it will likely not air regularly, but maybe will be repeated a few times in the near future. They do have rights to air all three beyond this month, though, so that is good! Anyway, back to March 2010, there are plenty of marathons scheduled. On Sunday March, 7 beginning at 12pm Noon, join the Sutton family for an all-day marathon of season 2 of the popular African American drama series Lincoln Heights. The marathon runs through 10pm and then repeats until 5am.
On Saturday, March 13 beginning at 12 Noon, it's a 'Winter Wedding Wonderland' as TV One presents an all-day sitcom marathon featuring wedding episodes of viewer favorite comedies Amen, Living Single, For Your Love, The Hughleys, Martin, Good Times, A Different World, Sanford & Son, and The Jeffersons. The marathon runs all day and all night through 6am with repeats in the late night.
On Saturday, April 3 beginning at 3pm, it's all the way LisaRaye as TV One presents the "All of Us: All Day LisaRaye" Marathon featuring episodes of the family sitcom focusing on LisaRaye's character Neesee and her plight to find love and happiness while raising her son. The marathon runs through 6am with encores in the late night.

We have yet more Hallmark Channel schedule changes for you. This is our third story on changes for the network this week alone! Beginning Wednesday, February 17 the primetime Hallmark Movie has been moved up from 9pm to 8pm. As a result, starting Wednesday, Feb. 17, Touched By An Angel's 8pm airing will move to 10p. And 7th Heaven will run for an additional hour at 7pm replacing an episode of Touched by An Angel. So, 7th Heaven is airing now in early evenings from 5pm-8pm (and afternoons 12-2pm).
It is very hard to keep track of this network. It is best you click on the label below for Hallmark Channel so you don't miss any schedule changes news on this network. I mean three stories in one week on schedule changes? That is a lot! And we had some last week as well, so it is a lot and you don't want to miss anything! It's like a serialized series. "Previously on Hallmark Channel Schedule Changes..."

New TV One Daytime Schedule Starting Monday; Retroality.TV Stories on Suzanne Somers, Rod Roddy, and More!

Starting Monday (Nov. 16) TV One will be making last minute schedule changes to its daytime line-up. Short-lived sitcom For Your Love will now air for the full hour at 7am, rather than just the 7am half-hour, as original series Singletary Says is no longer scheduled at 7:30am. Sitcom Half & Half moves to the 8am hour, replacing an hour of original series. Original series will continue to air from 9am-12pm. Then at 12 noon, we now have an hour of Eve replacing short-lived comedies Where I Live and That's My Mama, which are now gone from the schedule totally. In the 1pm hour we now have another hour of Martin, replacing Amen and Like Family. This means Amen is totally gone from the regular schedule, but Like Family remains Saturdays in the 6am hour. In the 2pm hour, we now have back-to-back Living Single instead of Half & Half, since that moved to 8am. New York Undercover and Divorce Court remain in the 3pm and 4pm hours. The final change is to the 5pm hour with two episodes of All of Us replacing original series. Everything else will remain the same such as The Jeffersons in the 6pm hour.

Chris Mann has some very interesting reads up on his wonderful website Retroality.TV that you won't want to miss reading! As you all probably know, Suzanne Somers is much in the headlines these days about cancer and how chemo is not the answer. She has a new book titled Knockout, which boldly slams chemotherapy while promoting controversial treatments. Suzanne has gone back and forth this week with Gerald Posners in dueling blogs on The Daily Beast this week. Chris takes a look at this entire debacle and even has some interesting comments from her Three's Company co-star John Ritter about Suzanne Somers' breast cancer revelation and related liposuction debacle in 2001. Did Suzanne lie again? You won't want to miss this interesting investigative blog story titled "RETROALITY.TV EXCLUSIVE! John Ritter initially questioned if Suzanne Somers really had breast cancer: 'She lies,' he told me ...!"
Chris says he will have even more about this story later this month, so stay tuned! In other updates for Retroality.TV, the cover story is about Price is Right announcer Johnny Olson. GSN's new The Newlywed Game announcer Randy West wrote a great new book about his old friend and mentor Johnny. Chris has an exclusive interview with Randy.
Staying on the topic of The Price is Right, announcer Rod Roddy mysteriously wasn't visible on camera much as used to be in his final years. Why? Chris has an exclusive and interesting story on why from a former Barker's Beauty. Was Bob Barker responsible for this instead of the generic response given by FremantleMedia? Read Chris' very interesting story on Rod Roddy.
All of this is part of cancer month on Retroality.TV.
Also, later this month, he'll have an interview with Dick Van Patten regarding his new book Eighty is Enough. Retroality.TV just gets better and better! I suggest you read all of this, it is good stuff (I was especially interested in the Somers and Roddy blog stories!)!

TV One December 2009 Highlights; Accidentally on Purpose Gets More Episodes

This December on TV One, they have holiday stunts, special marathons, and more! We'll only cover the sitcom/TV series events, like usual. First up, on Saturday, December 12 beginning at 12 Noon through 8pm, TV One keeps with the Holiday Season Spirit as they air a Holiday Sitcom Marathon consisting of Christmas-themed episodes of favorite TV One comedies Good Times, The Jeffersons, The Hughleys, Amen, and Sanford & Son.
Beginning on Monday, December 14, TV One presents a Lincoln Heights - "Best Of Season 2" week-long event. The series is an original ABC Family series, but TV One is once again airing some repeats. The Sutton family is back for another stunt week on TV One...which starts out with a race riot at the high school that spills out into streets where violence catches up to Eddie, who shoots a boy who he thought shot at him. Join the Sutton Family as they must deal with life on the hard edge confronting such issues as racial violence, gangs, family issues, and an unexpected tragic event. Episodes in this special stunt week air Monday-Friday the week of Dec. 13 only at 9pm and 10pm with encore airings at 1am & 2am.
On Saturday, December 19 beginning at 2pm through 12am (encores until 6am), TV One keeps with the Holiday Season Spirit as they air another Holiday Sitcom Marathon consisting of Christmas-themed episodes of favorite TV One comedies Martin, All of Us, Eve, The PJs, For Your Love, Where I Live, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Half & Half, and Living Single.
Then beginning on Monday, December 21 and continuing through Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24), TV One presents a Christmas Comedy Countdown from 7pm to 11pm each night showcasing Yuletide episodes of your favorite TV One sitcoms leading up to Christmas. The Holiday countdown begins each night with Christmas episodes of Martin at 7pm followed by Good Times at 7:30pm. The 8pm to 11pm Christmas Comedies are in blocks. On Monday we get Martin & Living Single, on Tuesday we get Good Times & Amen, on Wednesday it is The Jeffersons & Cedric The Entertainer Presents and on Thursday we get All of Us & Eve on Christmas Eve.
And finally on Friday, January 1 (New Years Day) beginning at 9am through 8pm (encores until 6am), ring in your New Year in 2010 with Martin Payne as TV One presents the "Martin: It's All Love - New Years Day Marathon." Join Martin along with Gina, Tommy, Pam, and Cole as love is the theme of the day with the thin line between love and hate growing ever so closer in the world of Martin.

CBS has ordered an additional five episodes of its freshman comedy Accidentally on Purpose, bringing its season order to 18. Accidentally on Purpose is averaging 8.04 million viewers, 3.1/7 rating/share in adults 18-49 and 3.7/8 rating/share in adults 25-54 in its Monday (8:30PM) time period, according to Nielsen most current ratings (not counting the repeat on Oct. 26).
This Monday's episode did a decent 8.09 million, 3.1/8 rating/share in adults 18-49, and a 3.7/8 rating/share in adults 25-54, right on par with its season average. However, it was slightly off from its previous all-new episode on Oct. 19 of 8.26 million, 3.3/8 rating/share in adults 18-49, and a 3.7/9 rating/share in adults 25-54.

TV One November 2009 Highlights; New Biography Episodes in November on Bio TV

This November on TV One there won't be any regular schedule changes, so it will remain the same as October, but there will be plenty of sitcom related stunt marathons! On Friday, November 13 beginning at 10pm, it's a comedy master class as TV One presents the "Martin 'Thug Homey' Mega-thon," a 24-hour comedy event that features episodes of TV One sitcom favorite Martin with Martin Payne (Martin Lawrence) in aggression mode battling his friends, his enemies, his woman, and even himself in this hilarious TV One comedy extravaganza.
Thursday, November 26 is Thanksgiving Day and TV One has programming scheduled to keep viewers "Home for the Holidays" and in the holiday spirit in the day and thumping to a music beat throughout the evening, while the rest of the holiday weekend includes a mix of TV One originals and TV One sitcom favorites, and movies. Thanksgiving weekend programming plans for sitcoms are as follows:
On Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day will begin at 6am with a sitcom marathon consisting of Thanksgiving themed episodes of TV One sitcoms Half & Half, Martin, The Hughleys, Living Single, Good Times, and All of Us through 1pm with select encores in the overnight from 2am-6am.
Then on Friday, November 27 beginning at 10pm, it's a Holiday Comedy Mega-thon as TV One airs 24-hours of holiday themed episodes of TV One sitcom favorites Martin, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Eve, Amen, The PJs, The Hughleys, Living Single, Cedric, Half & Half, Where I Live, Good News, Amen, Sanford & Son, , and All of Us in this holiday comedy mega-thon event.

This November Bio TV will launch a few TV related Biography episodes. Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives, Lois & Clark) will be featured on Wednesday, November 4 at 10pm and Woody Harrelson (Cheers) is featured on Tuesday, November 24 at 10pm. For Teri Hatcher, a profile of the glamorous Desperate Housewives star whose career and personal life have seen many ups and downs. Hatcher suffered sexual abuse as a young girl. But her career took off when she appeared on TV's Seinfeld and starred as the girlfriend to both Superman on TV and James Bond in the movies. After her professional life cooled down a decade ago, she came roaring back with Housewives and her 2006 autobiography, "Burnt Toast and Other Philosophies of Life," which was endorsed by Oprah's Book Club. For Woody Harrelson, a portrait of the actor who was plucked from obscurity and found stardom on the hit TV sitcom Cheers. Harrelson became a violent youth when his father was sent to jail. He started acting in high school, and nailed the audition for Cheers after hearing about the casting call from a friend. He went on to star in White Men Can't Jump and such controversial movies as Natural Born Killers and The People vs. Larry Flynt. Harrelson also became a vegan, took up yoga, and became an activist--he was arrested for climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in an effort to protect California's redwoods.
Repeat episodes airing this month include Biography episodes on Alyssa Milano, Tony Danza, Melissa Gilbert, Michael Landon, Aaron Spelling, Burt Reynolds, Heather Locklear, Shaun Cassidy, Valerie Bertinelli, Gary Coleman, Bob Saget, Dana Plato, Diff'rent Strokes, Kristy McNichol, Billy Crystal, Reba, Suzanne Somers, Patrick Duffy, Don Knotts, John Ritter, Three's Company, Patricia Heaton, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kirstie Alley, Cheers, Batman, The Partridge Family, Full House, Doris Roberts, Shirley Jones, Bill Cosby. Truth Behind the Sitcom Scandals: Gilligan's Island and Diff'rent Strokes; Laverne & Shirley and Cheers, Dynasty Reunion, The Cosby Show: A Look Back, Cast Confessions: Facts of Life, and Laverne & Shirley Reunion will also reair.
And about 10 days ago we told you the Celebrity Ghost Stories episodes for November that will feature stars like Lisa Rinna, Eric Roberts, Justine Bateman, and Jay Thomas.

TV One October (Fall) 2009 Schedule; Yet More Hallmark Changes

As we predicted on the TV One September 2009 schedule, the fall schedule changes will happen on TV One in October 2009! Beginning on Monday October 5, 2009, as the seasons change, the TV One fall schedule settles into place! Divorce Court starts the weekday schedule off from 6-7am. Then we have original programming from 7am-12pm with programs like Sharp Talk, TV One on One, and Comics Unleashed. At 12pm the series programming starts with short-lived comedies in the 12pm hour with the '90s comedy Where I Live followed by '70s comedy That's My Mama at 12:30pm. Amen now moves to 1pm being paired with the short-lived comedy Life Family. At 2pm we get back-to-back episodes of Half & Half. NY Undercover returns to the line-up airing weekdays at 3pm, while Divorce Court's afternoon airings move to the 4pm hour. In the 5pm hour will now be TV One original TV One Access. Returning to the regular schedule are The Jeffersons airing back-to-back in the 6pm hour. TV One staples Martin and Good Times now are airing in the 7pm hour. In primetime, we get blocks and movies. Mondays from 8-11pm will be Martin, Tuesdays will be Good Times, Wednesdays will be a movie followed by an hour of The Jeffersons at 10, Thursdays it is Sanford & Son and Fridays are more movies. At 11pm, Martin and Sanford & Son remain, as will Living Single and Eve in the 12am hour. At 1am it is a movie and 3am-5am will be abbreviated encores of the primetime marathon. And finally at 5am we get more original programming encores.
Saturday morning sitcoms will change a bit. All About the Andersons, Parent'hood and South Central will leave, as Life Family, The Hughleys, and The Jeffersons are now in. Airing from 6am-12pm are back-to-back episodes of Like Family, The Hughleys, All of Us, Good Times, The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son.
Moving on to stunts and marathons, on Saturday, October 24 beginning at 12 Noon, the hunks just keep coming as TV One presents the "Hottest Hunks" Sitcom Marathon showcasing episodes of favorite TV One sitcoms including All of Us, Half & Half, Eve, and Living Single that feature guest appearances by some of the hottest hunks in Hollywood including Boris Kodjoe, Will Smith, DMX, Tyrese Gibson, Tyson Beckford, Shemar Moore, Ginuwine, Eric Benet, and Blair Underwood.
On Saturday, October 31 beginning at 12 Noon, the ghouls and goblins are upon us as Halloween comes to TV One in the form of the TV One "Hallo-Scream" Marathon. TV One showcases Halloween-themed episodes of TV One sitcoms The Jeffersons, Martin, Living Single, Sanford & Son, and The Hughleys.

Effective Tuesday, Little House on the Prairie returns to the Hallmark Channel line-up airing weekdays from 2-5pm, replacing 7th Heaven, which is now gone again. Can they make up their mind already? That's not all the changes. Weekends starting Oct. 3 will see the acquistion of Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures airing Saturdays 6-9am and Sundays 8am-10am replacing Golden Girls. Golden Girls morning airings on weekends will move to Saturdays 9am-11am and Sundays 10am-11am. It will still air weekends 1-3am as well. And effective Monday, October 26, the Mon-Thurs 9-11pm airings of Touched by an Angel will be replaced by a movie. Touched will remain at 8pm weekdays, though. That's still over 7 weeks away, so don't worry yet Touched fans! Finally, there will be an I Love Lucy marathon on Sunday, Oct. 4 from 11am-3am. Lucy is not on the regular schedule right now, but October is a special month for Lucy since it launced in 1951 in that month. So I guess you can say Hallmark is celebrating the 58th birthday for Lucy.
As Hallmark keeps changing the schedule, stay with us for updates!

TV One June 2009 Adds Two Sitcoms; Network Notes Includes Obama Address; Hogan Family Interview

The weather is getting warmer out there in most of the country, so we are going to look ahead all this week to the month of June! Yes, May is still on the horizon but we here at SitcomsOnline like to plan ahead, which I'm sure you all like! We start out our "June schedule week" with plans for TV One June 2009! And they will add two new sitcoms to its regular line-up! On Monday, June 8 at 7:30pm, a new comedy joins the TV One prime-time line-up. The Holly Robinson-Peete short-lived family sitcom Like Family takes over the weeknights at 7:30pm timeslot to add some fresh laughs in the comedy zone. Like Family (2003-04) is a sitcom about two families -- one black, one white -- who share the same house and work together to overcome their differences to create a home.
Also joining the line-up on Monday, June 8 will be the classic '70s sitcom That's My Mama! We told you previously the show will have a special Mother's Day marathon on May 10, but now it is ALSO joining the weekday line-up as well a few weeks later! Mama and her family will air weekdays at 5:00pm kicking off the early evening sitcom line-up.
Due to these two new additions, there are quite a few changes to the weekday line-up. In the weekdays at 6am hour we now get Divorce Court, replacing Amen. At 7am Living It Up with Patti LaBelle replaces an episode of All About the Andersons, but that slides to 7:30am replacing Comics Unleashed. In the 8am hour, we now get two episodes of Amen, replacing an episode each of Comics Unleashed and Sharp Talk with Al Sharpton. The 9am and 10am hours remain the same with original encores. Weekdays in the 11am hour will now be Half & Half replacing original encores. The daytime marathons continue from 12pm-3pm, while Divorce Court's afternoon airings are moved in the 3pm hour replacing Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes. The Tom Joyner Show will air in the 4pm hour replacing Divorce Court. Then the sitcom line-up starts at 5pm as we mentioned with That's My Mama replacing Good Times at 5pm, followed still by Sanford & Son at 5:30pm, and Good Times at 6pm. Not to worry, the 5pm Good Times is now at 6:30pm replacing Half & Half. All of Us replace Eve at 7pm, and the aforementioned Like Family launches at 7:30pm replacing another Half & Half. Then we still have Martin and Living Single in the 8pm hour, followed by another Living Single a 9pm, but now 9:30pm will be Half & Half instead of All of Us. Back-to-back episodes of The Jeffersons remain in the 10pm hour, while Martin and Sanford & Son still share the 11pm hour. The late night schedule also gets a bit of a change, at 12 midnight we now have Eve instead of another Jeffersons, while at 12:30am we have Living Single instead of Good Times. 1-3am will still feature a movie. Then the really late schedule also gets changed, in the 3am hour will be The Jeffersons and Martin instead of back-to-back Living Single. At 4am Half & Half remains, but the 4:30am Half & Half is replaced with Martin! And finally the 5am hour will still have Get the Hookup. So that's the entire schedule! We still have highlights to give though.
On Saturday, June 20 beginning at 12 Noon (following the Saturday morning sitcom block from 6am-12pm) through 8pm (with an encore from 12am-6am), Our Music Month is in full effect as TV One presents the "Half & Half: Must Be the Music" marathon consisting of episodes of the sitcom with guest appearances from some of the music industry greats including DMX, Tyrese Gibson, Musiq Soulchild, Faith Evans, MC Lyte, Ginuwine, Eric Benet, and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
On Sunday, June 21 beginning at 3pm through 8pm (encores from 2am-6am), TV One airs a Fathers Day tribute in the form of an "All of Us: Fathers Day" marathon consisting of episodes of the family sitcom dealing with father/son episodes and situations of characters Robert and his son Bobby.
Finally, yes this is in July, but technically it part of June for TV One. On Friday, July 3 beginning at 8pm, the zany antics of Martin Payne will keep viewers in stitches as TV One presents the "Martin: Independence Day" mega-thon, a 24-hour laugh-a-thon consisting of some of the funniest and most talked about episodes of the sitcom Martin featuring comedian Martin Lawrence in some of his classic best moments and alter-ego character.
It is certainly going to be fun in the sun this June on TV One!

We have a lot of network notes for you. We announced them all on our message board yesterday, but we want to put it all in one space in case you missed it. President Obama is having a news conference live on Wednesday at 8pm ET for an hour. This means yet again the networks have to scramble and juggle programming. ABC and CBS had to change the most, especially CBS. We'll start with ABC, though. In the eastern and central time zones, Scrubs and Better Off Ted have to be preempted because of the Obama news conference. Everything else will air as normal, including the 100th episode of Lost at 9/8 central. In the mountain time zone, the news conference is at 6pm MT, so that won't affect primetime programming. Scrubs and Ted will follow at 7pm MT but will be repeats though since they are not airing in the east/central zones. Same goes for Pacific. Repeats of Scrubs and Ted will air at 8pm PT. Because of this change, ABC will move the planned new episodes of Scrubs and Ted to a special night of Tuesday, May 5 in the 8pm ET/PT hour replacing two episodes of According to Jim. Poor Jim has had so many preemptions already and won't get to air its finale in the season now. Four episodes got preempted so ABC will have to air those sometime in the summer. Jim is still airing tonight and as of now on May 12. I would just pull it on May 12 and bring it back in the summer for its final 6 episodes. We'll let you know what happens to Jim. View the changes in a list form.
Moving on to CBS, they will have more changes than anyone. They also will air the Presidential News Conference on Wednesday at 8pm ET. In the eastern and central time zones, special airing of Rules of Engagement and Old Christine at a special time, will have to be preempted because of the Obama news conference. Everything else will air as normal on this night. In the mountain time zone, the news conference is at 6pm MT, so that won't affect primetime programming. Old Christine and Gary Unmarried will follow at 7pm MT but will be repeats though since they are not airing in the east/central zones. Same goes for Pacific. Repeats of Old Christine and Gary will air at 8pm PT. In other changes, CBS has pulled Harper's Island out of the Thursdays at 10pm slot effective immediately. A repeat of Criminal Minds will air this Thursday (April 30), followed by a repeat of CSI on May 7. And on May 14, the final Thursday of the regular season, will see the season finale of CSI NY on a special night! Programming for the 10pm hour for the summer season, effective May 21, is to be announced right now. As for Harper's Island, it will be still on the air...it will be moved to Saturdays at 9pm replacing crime repeats. The series will air from May 2 through July 11, except on May 16 a special Mentalist repeat will air. And because of the Obama news conference on April 29, the sitcoms get affected. The Rules of Engagement special night and time is now on May 13 at 8pm, followed by a new Old Christine at a special time of 8:30pm. Because of that the season finales of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, which were slated for May 13, will now be May 20 against American Idol. And the two-part Criminal Minds season finale on May 20 moves from 8-10pm to 9-11pm, since the CSI NY finale at 10pm has been moved to Thursday, May 14. Besides the Harper's Island changes, all of these changes are because of the news conference! View the changes in a list form.
NBC is not really affected by this. NBC will air the Presidential News Conference at 8PM ET this Wednesday (April 29). A Law & Order repeat was scheduled in that slot. In the Mountain and Pacific time zones they will get Dateline at 7pm MT and 8pm PT instead of the Law & Order repeat. Why not just air the repeat there? No big loss for NBC.
Fox announced it is NOT airing the news conference! They will have a little scroll on the bottom saying you can watch it on Fox News Channel or Fox Business Channel. They will air an all-new episode of Lie to Me as scheduled. This is the first time Obama's conferences have been not aired by one of the big four. But they are making some changes to Sundays. Effective this Sunday (May 2), new animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up is being banished to 7pm replacing the American Dad! encore, which moves to 7:30pm. So this means King of the Hill moves from 7:30 back to its old 8:30pm slot for new episodes! This is not good news at all for Sit Down, Shut Up, which only after two airings has not done well in the ratings. 3 more episodes are left, as Fox is only airing 5 of the 13 for some reason. View these changes in a list form.

It went through three names, two leading ladies, and two networks, yet The Hogan Family managed to last six seasons and is well remembered as one of the great family sitcoms of the '80s. Our good friend Eric is back with another retro interview on his wonderful interview website, JustMyShow.com! Listen to on and off camera insight as Eric hangs out with Mark Hogan himself, Jeremy Licht! For six seasons, Jeremy Licht played the role of Mark Hogan on The Hogan Family. His other credits include the ABC TV movie The Comeback Kid starring John Ritter and appearances on TV hits such as St. Elsewhere and Hotel. These days, he spends his time working as a financial advisor with his company JL Capital Management. It is a very fun interview and Eric also has a bonus clip of him asking Jeremy on when on earth the Hogan Family is coming to DVD?! Life is such a sweet insanity, indeed! Head on over to Just My Show to listen to this new great interview!

Comcast onDemand Adds Classic Warner Bros Channel; BET Adds Fresh Prince Marathon to Holiday Slate

Back in September we told you Warner Bros. has partnered with Comcast to have some of their shows stream online for free on Fancast.com and that they were going to develop an onDemand service by 4th quarter. Well it is now 4th quarter obviously, and they have added that onDemand service on Comcast cable systems! The onDemand channel is called "TheWB" under TV Entertainment on Comcast onDemand. As of now get the first 5 or 6 episodes of urban sitcoms Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Martin, All of Us, and short-lived drama Jack & Bobby. We don't have a list at press time of what other series they will be adding in the future, but given their vast library, you can expect about anything, especially what is on Fancast.com, which I will tell you in a bit. I'll keep you up to date on any happenings. Hopefully we get more classics on the onDemand service, though. Wouldn't it be nice to have series such as The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island and the drama Life Goes On at our leisure anytime on TV?
Comcast's Fancast.com has added a lot of Warner Bros. owned series to their website since we last reported. Back in September they only had more current stuff like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and Friends, but now we also get the classics! It seems Warner/AOL's In2TV doesn't really work anymore, so Fancast.com is now the place to go for classic Warner Bros. TV. They have added about 17 series with many episodes of each to their Classic Warner Bros. TV slate. Among the series are Perfect Strangers, Gilligan's Island, Head of the Class, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Growing Pains, Mama's Family, Welcome Back Kotter, CHiPs, Eight is Enough, Lois & Clark, and Wonder Woman! All these have been on In2TV, so it is nothing really new, but still nice to have! These episodes on Fancast.com are not in any order and are random episodes...most of them have Christmas themed episodes among their listings, so catch Balki trying to give Mr. Gorpley the Christmas spirit on Perfect Strangers.
One more way to watch Warner Bros. TV is through TheWB.com, but that is mainly for more current series though they do have a few classics in there like In Living Color, as we have told you in the past. Original web series are also on TheWB.com.

Late last week we gave you details on BET's sitcom marathons this week (hope you're enjoying Family Matters today!), but now they have announced one more marathon! The marathon will be on Monday, December 29 and will be the sitcom ... The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! How is that possible? As with Family Matters, they have borrowed it from sister Viacom station Nick at Nite, and this the series is NOT joining the line-up. It is just for this marathon. The marathon airs from 4pm-10pm, since Viacom doesn't have access to air the series in daytime, due to TBS owning that period for the series. The marathon will encore from 11pm-4am. In other BET week of December 29 news, One on One will lead into the Fresh Prince marathon in the daytime from 1pm-4pm. One on One will also have a mini-block on Tuesday, December 30 from 1pm-6pm. Hell Date returns to the schedule airing in the late night from 3-4am on weekdays. Nickelodeon series Romeo! and Just Jordan return on Saturday, Jan. 3 with back-to-back episodes from 9-11am leading into a six-episode block of The Proud Family from 11am-2pm and then One on One from 2-5pm.
Stay tuned early next week when we give you BET's January schedule (starts 1/5) which will feature The Proud Family, as we mentioned, and also another series...this a long-running talk show that is no longer airing! Find out what that is next week!
For now, once again view the BET Classic Sitcom Holiday marathon episodes list, which now featured Fresh Prince.

TV One January 2009 Highlights Sees Jeffersons, Sanford and Son Regular Slots; Remembering Beverly Garland and Nina Foch

Last month we gave you a sneak peek that The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son will join the regular TV One line-up on Monday, Jan. 5 after their marathons. Now we have details on when they will air starting Jan. 5! TV Land will continue to air the series, so not to worry, if you don't get TV One. Beginning on Monday, January 5, the TV One weeknight (Monday-Friday) comedy block has shifted with the addition of The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son and will look like this: Good Times remains at 5pm ET, but now Parent'Hood will shift to 5:30pm replacing The PJ's. Good Times remains anchoring the 6pm hour, but now at 6:30pm we will have The Hughleys replacing Parent'Hood. Half & Half will remain in the 7pm hour with two episodes, as we mentioned this starts Dec. 29. Martin and Living Single remain in the 8pm hour, while another Living Single remains at 9pm, but at 9:30pm All of Us replaces For Your Love. Then in the 10pm hour, back-to-back episodes of The Jeffersons replace All of Us and Eve. At 11:00pm Martin remains leading into the launch of Sanford & Son at 11:30pm replacing The Hughleys. At 12:00am we get another episode of The Jeffersons replacing Good Times, but Good Times will shift to 12:30am replacing The PJs. Everything else on weekdays is the same as December.
On Saturday mornings starting Jan. 10, the sitcom line-up has changed a bit. In the 7am hour will now be Where I Live, replacing Parent'hood. And in the 11am hour now will be All of Us instead of Where I Live. Where I Live will no longer air Sundays 6-7pm either, but at least it is still on...on Saturdays from 7-8am and all 21 episodes will air. Viewers will have another chance to unravel the mystery as the action drama series Day Break starring Taye Diggs returns to TV One airing Saturdays at 12 midnight beginning on Saturday, January 10. The series will have encore airings on Fridays at 11am and 2am starting Jan. 16. So, to recap, The Jeffersons (weeknights 10p, 10:30p, 12a) and Sanford & Son (weeknights 11:30p) are in, The PJs and For Your Love are out, Day Break is back and Eve is off the regular line-up but will remain Fridays from 12-4pm.
Other highlights include: On Saturday, January 17 beginning at 12 Noon thru 8pm (and again 2-6am), as the nation prepares for a new first couple to take residence in the White House, TV One salutes our own first couple of comedy Overton and Synclaire (John Henton and Kim Coles) from the sitcom Living Single with a marathon that showcases the couple's relationship, engagement, wedding, and honeymoon.
On Sunday, January 18 beginning at 1pm, TV One is solid as a Roc as they present a marathon to showcase characters from the urban sitcom Roc starring Charles S. Dutton as Roc Emerson, a city garbage collector who balances the pressures of work with the everyday crises of family life.
Finally, on Tuesday, January 20 beginning at 9am, TV One celebrates the election of the first African-American President of the United States with coverage of the Inauguration Barack Obama, the US' 44th President. Coverage of this historic Inauguration begins at 11am while post inaugural events and inaugural ball coverage begins at 8pm.

Beverly Garland, the actress who starred in 1950s movie cult hits like Swamp Women and Not of This Earth and who went on to play Fred MacMurray's TV wife on the family sitcom My Three Sons, has died. Garland died Friday at her Hollywood Hills home after a lengthy illness. She had a 50-year career that included 40 movies and dozens of television shows. She starred in the crime series Decoy in the late '50s as police woman Casey Jones. Garland showed her comedic chops as Bing Crosby's wife in the short-lived sitcom The Bing Crosby Show in the mid-'60s, which led her to be cast as the second wife of MacMurray's widower Steve Douglas during the last three seasons of the popular sitcom My Three Sons that aired from 1960 to 1972.
Her television credits also include playing her fair share of mothers in TV series. She was Stephanie Zimbalist's mom in the 80s series Remington Steele, Kate Jackson's mom in the 80's series Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Teri Hatcher's in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the '90s. She also had MANY other TV credits to her name such as appearing on episodes of Hawaiian Eye, The Millionaire, Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Fugitive, Here's Lucy, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Love American Stle, Ironside, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Marcus Welby MD, Charlie's Angels, Trapper John MD, Hart to Hart, Magnum P.I., Hotel, Friends, Ellen, Diagnosis Murder, Teen Angel, and The Simple Life. She recurred on Mary Hartman Mary Hartman as Cookie LaRue, on the ABC soap Port Charles as Estelle Reese, and as Ginger Jackson on 7th Heaven, with her last episode in 2004, as her last role.
Her name may not be recognizable to many, but her face probably is. She appeared in so many TV series and movies, everyone had to have seen her once. She will be deeply missed and remembered. She was 82.

We also remember Nina Foch today. Nina Foch, the Dutch-born actress who often played cool, calculating women in films, theater and television and was a respected coach of aspiring actors and directors has died. Foch died Friday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia. She became ill last week while teaching at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. Foch had taught at USC for 40 years.
What many people know about Nina is that she was the acting teacher for the late John Ritter when he attended USC from 1966-71. She taught John well and was one of her favorite students of all-time. She even worked with John on the big screen movie Blake Edwards' Skin Deep in 1989, in which John was the star. John had a supporting role in the movie Shadow of Doubt in 1998 and Nina also worked with John then. And you John Ritter fans know that Nina was interviewed in many John Ritter documentaries such as John Ritter's Biography episode.
Foch's career goes back all the way to the 40s. Her lengthy television credits include Prescription: Murder in 1968, which launched the popular Columbo detective series starring Peter Falk, the miniseries War and Remembrance in 1989 and episodes of Studio One, Rawhide, Route 66, I Spy, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, That Girl, Hawaii Five-0, Trapper John MD, Hunter, LA Law, Murder She Wrote, Just Shoot Me, Bull, Dharma & Greg, NCIS and most recently on The Closer. She earned an Emmy nomination for best supporting actress in a drama series in 1980 for her work on an episode of Lou Grant.
She was known for her film work as she earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in Executive Suite in 1954. But her dedication as an acting teacher at USC was her legacy and many actors and actresses have respect for Nina Foch. "Believe it or not, teaching is the most rewarding thing I do," Foch told United Press International in 1994. "It has been the most successful thing I've done in my life." She will be remembered for her work, her wonderful teachings, and for her support for the great John Ritter. Nina was 84 and never retired.

TV One November 2008 Highlights; New Partridge Family Possibly Soon on NBC; Tonight's Preview

This November on TV One there will not be much in terms of series television highlights, but we do have a few still! Thursday, November 27 is Thanksgiving Day and TV One has a Holiday Weekend full of Family, Fun, Music, and More to keep viewers high on holiday spirit through Sunday, November 30. I will only discuss the series highlights. On Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 27), catch Thanksgiving episodes of TV One sitcoms Good Times, All of Us, The Hughleys, Living Single and Martin from 8am-2pm and again from 1am-6am at night.
On Friday, November 28 (Black Friday) beginning at 8pm, let the good times roll as TV One presents the Good Times family sitcom mega-thon. As viewers are spending time with their families during this family holiday weekend, they can also spend time with the Evans family and relive those special moments that make family so special in our hearts while the antics of J.J. and the crew will keep viewers laughing in this 24-hour mega-thon event.
On Sunday, November 30 concluding Thanksgiving weekend, beginning at 12pm through 8pm, TV One airs an All of Us Family Edition marathon that features episodes focused on family issues and themes to keep viewers in the family holiday spirit. The marathon will also be seen from 2-6am.

The Partridge Family is possibly headed for a return to the small screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. NBC has picked up a contemporary single-camera pilot on the classic ABC '70s sitcom. The show's writer, Jeff Rake, is a fan of the 1970s sitcom who plans to "turn the premise on its head," as he calls it. "In the original, the kids actually recruited their mom to front the band, which I can't see happening in any family on this planet," he said. "The new version will reflect what seems to me to be the more realistic family band scenario these days: a struggling, sort of well-meaning mom pimping her kids in order to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow."
Oh boy. If this is picked up to an actual series order, will NBC have more success with this than attempts for Bionic Woman, American Gladiators, and Knight Rider? It remains to be seen. For fans of the classic series, the third season DVD comes out Oct. 14, so buy it if you want more seasons. See our full DVD review.

Tonight is the long awaited returns of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money on ABC. They haven't aired since last December due to the writers' strike, and ABC is relaunching them all tonight. They were last fall's number one shows on Wednesday night in 18-49. I expect that to happen once again. Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning this is because I've seen all three season premieres and I want to share with you all what I thought. Check out my thoughts on the Wednesday premieres.

TV One September 2008 Schedule and Highlights; TV Rebels: Bill Cosby

Our look at the fall 2008 season on cable continues with TV One's September 2008 line-up. This September TV One will be adding the hit '90s sitcom Living Single to its African-American line-up. Living Single premieres on TV One in a week-long marathon event that airs each weeknight from 7pm-12am ET/PT (encores 3-6am ET/PT). Each character will be showcased on various nights -- Khadijah on Monday, Synclaire on Tuesday, Regine on Wednesday, Max on Thursday, and The Boys (Overton and Kyle) on Friday. Living Single was a situation comedy that centered on the lives of a group of six African American friends living in (or near) a Brooklyn brownstone. The series focused on the personal and professional lives of each character, as well as their relationships with one another.
After the marathon, Living Single settles into its regular time-slot weeknights at 8:30pm & 9pm starting Monday, September 29, with an encore from 3-4am ET/PT.
Other changes include the fall 10am-4pm block. Beginning on Monday September 8 and continuing until further notice, the TV One daytime marathons which air weekdays from 10am to 4pm will have a steady schedule consisting of the following: Eve (Mondays), Movies (Tuesdays), Wanda At Large/Divorce Court/Between Brothers rotate (Wednesdays), TV One on One/Roc rotate (Thursdays) and All of Us (Fridays).
On Monday, September 29, the TV One fall schedule settles into place with changes taking place after 5pm. View the full TV One September 2008 line-up for complete details.
Moving on to other highlights, on Saturday September 20 beginning at 1pm, it's girl power time as TV One presents the "Eve-Sisters Doin' It For Themselves-Marathon" that showcases episodes of the sitcom Eve that feature the women taking charge while resolving their own problems and issues that will keep viewers laughing as well as fired up with emotion as Shelly (Eve) and her crew prove that new millennium women have it all together.
Future Outlook: TV One has also acquired the sitcom Half & Half for later in the fall...we will have details on that at a later date!
So, don't forget to view and discuss the TV One September Line-Up!


It's time for another edition of TV Rebels. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and as we mentioned in April, we have now gotten rights to 6 additional essays (for a total of 12!), so we will be bringing you one each month until at least November! Upcoming TV Rebel columns coming soon are about Rod Serling and Desi Arnaz. The book is in the works and will be released in 2009.

So without further adieu, we bring you the eighth essay of TV Rebels:

Bill Cosby: Double Rebel
by Lou Orfanella

In 1965 standup comic Bill Cosby earned critical praise and the first of three consecutive Emmy Awards as outstanding lead actor in a dramatic series as he began his three year run as globetrotting government agent Alexander Scott on the NBC drama I Spy. More significant and media changing than his triple Emmy feat was that this was the first instance of a major dramatic starring role by a black actor on a network television series. The groundbreaking weekly adventure costarred white actor Robert Culp as Scott's partner Kelly Robinson. "Coinciding with the crest of the civil rights movements, the series' light touch was 'balm for the jangled American psyche of the time,' said the New York Times. It was a historic moment in casting when a black man was placed along side a white man as his equal and it created international interest in the show" ("Biography").
After I Spy ended in 1968, Cosby headlined the sitcom The Bill Cosby Show on NBC ffrom 1969-1971 as well as the variety shows The New Bill Cosby Show (CBS) and Cos (ABC) in 1972 and 1976 respectively. He entered the Saturday morning children's shows arena from 1972-1977 with the message filled animated offering Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. It was in 1984 however, that Cosby would achieve his greatest success and become a double TV rebel.
In 1984 with the situation comedy genre mostly left for dead by network executives, Cosby returned to weekly series duty as the unflappable dad Cliff Huxtable on NBC's The Cosby Show, a light hearted family sitcom that skyrocketed to the top of the ratings and rejuvenated the genre during its eight year run. In the process it became the anchor of what was to become NBC's Thursday night lineup of "Must See TV." The Cosby Show was the most watched show on the air for five of its seasons and is credited with reviving the viability and profitability of the situation comedy genre.
In many ways The Cosby Show allowed its star to extend the social changes he had been a part of with I Spy. Two decades after Alexander Scott showed that blacks and whites could be equal partners, The Cosby Show depicted the black family on equal footing with middle and upper class white families, rather than as low income ghetto dwellers such as in previous shows as Good Times and Sanford and Son. "The Cosby Show discontinued familiar sitcom formulas filled with disrespectful children and generational conflict and presented instead a two-parent family in which both partners worked as professionals. In the Huxtable household, viewers were exposed to the existence and culture of historically black colleges and universities" ("Cosby"). Black art and music as well as black history were all apparent in the Huxtable universe expanding the traditional and often stereotypical view of black families television had presented.
During the 1990s the man known widely as simply "Cos" would star in three additional series. First came the revival of the comedic quiz show You Bet Your Life with Cosby filling the legendary shoes of Groucho Marx. The Cosby Mysteries followed, and the Cosby (CBS, 1996-2000) sitcom closed the decade. He also hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things for CBS. While none of those efforts made an indelible mark on television history, Cosby's legacy had long been secured with I Spy and The Cosby Show, two series that helped change the face of television.

Works Cited
Biography of Bill Cosby. The Kennedy Center. 7 August 2007 http://www.kennedy-center.org.
Cosby, Bill. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. 7 August 2007 http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/humlC/cosbybill/cosbybill.htm.

TV Land Announces Stars Attending 6th Annual TV Land Awards; TV One July 2008 Highlights

TV Land has lined up an array of television, film and musical icons for the sixth annual TV Land Awards. The network announced that Steve Carell, Justin Timberlake, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Henry Winkler, Kathy Griffin, Jack Klugman, the cast of The Office, She's Got The Look's Kim Alexis and Beverly Johnson and more are set to appear, and musical sensation Lionel Richie will take the stage for a musical performance.
They join previously-announced honorees Mike Myers, Garry Marshall, the casts of Roseanne and The Golden Girls and Jonathan Winters. The show will tape this Sunday, June 8 at The Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA and will premiere on TV Land the following week on Sunday, June 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Justin Timberlake will present The Legacy of Laughter Award to Mike Myers.
Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, Henry Winkler, Jack Klugman and Dick Van Dyke will present The Legend Award to Garry Marshall.
Robin Williams will present The Pioneer Award to Jonathan Winters.
More will come on the TV Land Awards very soon, so check back with us!

Now let's move on to some TV schedules! TV One has released its July 2008 schedule to us. As we mentioned in our June highlights last month, they are doing weekday marathons from 10am-4pm for the summer and they will have a 24-hour Martin 4th of July marathon from 8pm to 8pm July 5.
The 10am-4pm weekday blocks for this month include a birthday tribute to actress Roz Ryan by airing episodes of Amen, Good News, All About The Andersons, Bid Whist Party Throwdown on July 7. On July 14, TV One presents a Roc Fights Back marathon following the sitcom's storyline surrounding neighborhood drug dealer Andre (Clifton Powell) and his effect on the community. On July 15, it is a Boston Public marathon featuring all of the American Idol finalist Tamyra Gray's episodes. On July 22, it is a Eve Girl Power Marathon, featuring all stories about the hijinx of Shelley, Rita and Janie. Fastlane, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, A Man Called Hawk, Divorce Court, and Hangin' with Mr. Cooprer round out the other series marathons.
Other notable highlight is an All of Us Marathon. On Saturday, July 26 starting at 12 noon through 9pm, TV One presents an All of Us 'Celebrity Drive-By' Marathon that features episodes full of famous guest appearances from notable stars such as Beyonce, Boris Kodjoe, Will Smith, Allen Payne, Tyra Banks, Serena Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Paula Abdul, and many more.